For their 49th edition, the meetings of the photography of Arles propose, from the 2nd of July until the 23rd of September, an exhibition of the latest shots of the American photographer William Wegman who made himself famous by staging his braques of Weimar.

Born in 1943 in Massachusetts, William Wegman wants to become a painter. He studied painting in Boston and then in Illinois. Upon graduation, he became a professor of painting at the University of Wisconsin and began to take an interest in photography. His wife would like a dog but William Wegman refuses.

They then move to Los Angeles where his wife retries her chance because she wants a Dalmatian. The artist finally accepts but no puppy is available. However, they come across an ad in the newspaper proposing a Weimar puppy. It’s love at first sight for his wife but William, always reluctant, prefers to leave it to chance. He throws a coin : on the other side, they will leave with the puppy, face down… The coin falls down five times in a row ! William Wegman decides to call it Man Ray, in tribute to the painter and surrealist photographer.

Man Ray accompanies his master every day in his studio and tirelessly seeks to attract the attention of the artist. It was then that William Wegman had the surprising idea for the time to photograph his dog because his calm and freezes immediately when the camera is pointed at him. And this is the beginning of a work:

Recognizable at first glance : the artist stages his dog and his successors in anthropomorphic portraits but very refined. The characteristic gray of the Weimar’s Braques is sublimated by the work of the artist and their yellow or blue eyes always a little melancholy.

Shifted : through his clichés and thematic collections, William Wegman often takes with humor the codes of our contemporary societies by replacing the human with a dog that becomes a metaphor for our behavior. He dress up his dogs with costumes of fashion designers or installs them on furniture of famous designers.

Respectful : with the help of an assistant, the artist places his dogs on a platform allowing both a vertical shot and a dog – naturally horizontal – fully visible in the photo. Living everyday with his models, William Wegman knows everyone’s character and respects his staging : « One of my males, Chip, had a hat-headed, while his uncle, Chundo, couldn’t stand to have something on his head: he then put his ears back and seemed ashamed. «